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Posts: 1,513 | Thanked: 2,248 times | Joined on Mar 2006 @ US
#1
I came across this discussion of Intel's next 2300 wireless comm chip, which includes WiFi, WiMax and HSDPA. What caught my attention was this:

"As laptops become smaller, for example, they will have limited space for new technologies," Intel writes. "Integration also helps enable ubiquitous connectivity on ultra mobile PCs, consumer electronics and handheld devices that have significant size constraints for the number of cards or components."

http://www.betanews.com/article/Inte...MAX/1165444072

Now the chip won't be launched for at least a year, but will we really ever see it in a handheld (without getting a major breakthrough in fuel cells, etc.)? Aren't the power and battery requirements too much for a handheld?

Also, keeping mind that Nokia provided the HSDPA technology for the chip, is it feasible that the third generation of the 770 could have a Centrino Duo? I am already thinking about it!
 
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#2
Update: Intel has dropped HSDPA from Centrino Duo

I have not seen any UMPCs with HSDPA. That leaves E90 as the best alternative to 800 that includes HSDPA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2007...WYbto53H4jtBAF
 
Posts: 3,401 | Thanked: 1,255 times | Joined on Nov 2005 @ London, UK
#3
Nokia and Intel (who were together developing HSDPA for the new Centrino chipset) decided there was no business case.

Considering most laptops have Bluetooth built in, isn't it easier to Bluetooth the laptop over to the mobile phone for internet connectivity? In fact, precisely how one connects an Internet Tablet to the cellular network - using Bluetooth. No need to put an extra SIM in the laptop and no matter if the phone supports WCDMA/GPRS/GSM/HSDPA etc the laptop can connect to the network without a hitch - brilliant.

Building phone functionality into devices that each then need their own additional contract with the network provider makes no sense at all to me. There may be some side benefits from having the phone functionalioty integrated but these are few and far between - most users won't care about it. I guess Intel + Nokia realised that too, eventually. And besides, SonyEricsson just released an HSDPA PCI Express card which addresses the tiny fraction of users who are interested in HSDPA in a laptop/UMPC device.
 
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#4
Couldn't agree more!
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Posts: 1,513 | Thanked: 2,248 times | Joined on Mar 2006 @ US
#5
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
Nokia and Intel (who were together developing HSDPA for the new Centrino chipset) decided there was no business case.

Considering most laptops have Bluetooth built in, isn't it easier to Bluetooth the laptop over to the mobile phone for internet connectivity? In fact, precisely how one connects an Internet Tablet to the cellular network - using Bluetooth. No need to put an extra SIM in the laptop and no matter if the phone supports WCDMA/GPRS/GSM/HSDPA etc the laptop can connect to the network without a hitch - brilliant.

Building phone functionality into devices that each then need their own additional contract with the network provider makes no sense at all to me. There may be some side benefits from having the phone functionalioty integrated but these are few and far between - most users won't care about it. I guess Intel + Nokia realised that too, eventually. And besides, SonyEricsson just released an HSDPA PCI Express card which addresses the tiny fraction of users who are interested in HSDPA in a laptop/UMPC device.
Well, HSDPA needs a boost in the US. Its inclusion in the Centrino Duo platform would have done that and was the motivating factor here. Whether or not bluetooth pairing is easier or better solution was a secondary issue. What the article says is that the laptop OEMs balked at the extra cost - not Intel and certainly not Nokia decided not to do it. My interest was that Intel was hoping it could introduce Centrino Duo in its core segment and then parlay that into another category of devices (see the first post). So this might be why laptop OEMs balked - HSDPA does bring more business case value to a handheld device than to a laptop.
 
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#6
Originally Posted by SD69 View Post
What the article says is that the laptop OEMs balked at the extra cost - not Intel and certainly not Nokia decided not to do it.
As I said, there was no business case for Intel/Nokia - if the OEMs don't want it, why waste resources designing/building something you can't sell?

Anyway, don't take it from me - it's a direct quote from a Nokia spokeswoman here.

Last edited by Milhouse; 2007-02-15 at 22:48.
 
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